Machine for bending the end portions of wires

ABSTRACT

A wire bending machine for forming and bending loops in the end portions of wires for use as bale ties. Wires to be bent are received on and clamped to a plurality of spaced indexing wheels that carry and index a plurality of wires sequentially through a loop forming station and a loop bending station. A wire bending head engages a wire end portion at the loop forming station and oscillates to bend the end portion reversely into the general configuration of a loop, and at the same time a previously formed loop of another wire is engaged by another wire bending head at the loop bending station, which head oscillates to bend the loop along an axis extending across the loop. Both wire bending heads are mounted on a common carriage that moves to retract the bending heads during wire indexing, and the heads are operated by a common operating mechanism for simultaneous oscillation about spaced parallel axes. The indexing wheel is rotated 90* during each indexing so that the clamped wires will be reoriented 90* about their axes as they index and be presented for bending at the loop bending station at a 90* reorientation for different bending action on the wire end portions by the parallel bending heads.

United States Patent [191 Kieronski 1 Oct. 15, 1974 MACHINE FOR BENDING THE END PORTIONS OF WIRES John P. Kieronski, Charlotte, NC.

[73] Assignee: William F. Leiendecker, Sr.,

Charlotte, NC

[22] Filed: Feb. 28. 1973 (21 I Appl. No.: 336,728

[75] Inventor:

3,195,583 7/1965 Jones .11.. 140/73 Primary Examiner-Lowell A. Larson Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Parrott, Bell, Seltzer, Park 8: Gibson [57] ABSTRACT A wire bending machine for fonning and bending loops in the end portions of wires for use as bale ties. Wires to be bent are received on and clamped to a plurality of spaced indexing wheels that carry and index a plurality of wires sequentially through a loop fon'ning station and a loop bending station. A wire bending head engages a wire end portion at the loop forming station and oscillates to bend the end portion reversely into the general configuration of a loop, and at the same time a previously fonned loop of another wire is engaged by another wire bending head at the loop bending station, which head oscillates to bend the loop along an axis extending across the loop. Both wire bending heads are mounted on a common carriage that moves to retract the bending heads during wire indexing, and the heads are operated by a common operating mechanism for simultaneous oscillation about spaced parallel axes. The indexing wheel is rotated 90 during each indexing so that the clamped wires will be reoriented 90 about their axes as they index and be presented for bending at the loop bending station at a 90 reorientation for different bending action on the wire end portions by the parallel bending heads.

26 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures PAIENTED 1 5574 3.841 .361

SHEU 1 BF 5 PAIENIEU I 3.841.361

sum 2 OF 5 MACHINE FOR BENDING THE END PORTIONS OF WIRES BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to machines for bending the end portions of wires and in the preferred embodiment to forming and bending loops in end portions of wires to form bale ties or similar articles. Such bale ties are commonly made with oppositely formed loops at their ends, with each loop having an inwardly extending free straight portion and a curved outer portion that is bent from the major axis of the wire along an axis extending across the loop. With this end configuration a bale tic can be wrapped around a bale and the ends manually manipulated to interengage the loops and form a secure thief knot configuration.

A prior type of machine for forming bale ties of the above-described type is disclosed in Jones U.S. Pat. No. 3,l95,583, issued July 29, 1965, for Machine for Pro- .ducing Wire Ties. This prior art machine has clamping formed loops and oscillate to bend the loops out of their original planes. The loop bending tool is then retracted and the bent wire removed. As the wire is retained in one supported position during both loop forming and loop bending operations and more than one wire cannot be operated on at the same time, this machine is subject to a relatively low production rate. Moreover, there is lost time due to the fact that the loop bending tool is inoperative during the loop forming operation and vice versa. Furthermore, separate tool advancing and tool operating mechanisms must be provided for each tool because they operate sequentially rather than simultaneously and because they operate at right angles to each other.

In contrast, the present invention provides a machine capable of performing different bending operations at different stations so that one bending operation need not be inoperative while the other is operative and it is possible to perform different bending operations on more than one wire at the same time. Thus, relatively high production rates are attainable. Further, the bending operations can be related in function and manipulation at a considerable savings in cost and upkeep and a notably facilitated operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly desribed, the wire bending machine of the present invention includes means for carrying and indexing a wire sequentially through a plurality of stations with an end portion of the wire projecting freely from the carrying and indexing means. A first wire bending means is operable at one of the stations to engage and bend a projecting wire end portion, and a second wire bending means is operable at a station subsequent to the first station to engage and bend a wire end portion that had previously been bent by the first wire bending means. Preferably, the wire carrying and indexing means carries a plurality of wires sec Jentially through the various stations and both wire bending means operate substantially simultaneously to bend one end portion of one wire at one station at the same time that a previously bent portion of another wire is being bent at another station. Also, the wire bending means may be in the form of wire bending heads that are oscillatable to bend the wire end portions and may be oscillatable about parallel spaced axes for simplified construction and operation.

In the preferred embodiment, the machine is used for forming articles such as bale ties or the like, for which purpose the first wire bending means is a loop forming means that operates to bend a projecting wire end portion reversely into the general configuration of a loop, and the second wire bending means is a loop bending means that operates to bend a previously fomied loop along an axis extending generally across the loop. Both the loop forming and loop bending means may be in the form of oscillatable wire bending heads that are oscillatable about generally parallel axes with common operating means for oscillating both bending heads simultaneously, and both heads are mounted on a common carriage means for movement therewith between operative and inoperative positions in relation to indexing of the wires.

Also in the preferred embodiment the wire carrying and indexing means includes a rotatable shaft, a plurality of aligned wire carrying and indexing wheels mounted in spaced relation on the shaft for carrying a plurality of wires in parallel relation through an arcuate path, and means for rotatably indexing the shaft for advancing the wires through the various stations. These indexing wheels receive wires at a receiving station and carry clamping means for clamping wires in place on the wheels as the wires are advancing from the receiving station to and through the loop forming and subsequent loop bending stations and for unclamping thereafter to allow bent wires to be discharged and to allow unbent wires to be received at said receiving station. In indexing the clamped wires, the arcuate wire path imposed by the indexing wheels reorients the wires about their axes as they are indexed between stations so that the wires are presented for bending at different angles by the generally parallel bending heads. In this manner a indexing imposes a 90 reorientation so that the loop bending head, while parallel to the loop forming head, acts to bend a previously formed loop along an axis across the loop, which axis is displaced 90 from the axis of the preceding loop forming.

Thus, the present invention provides a wire bending machine capable of relatively high production rates, simplified and compact construction, and reliable and facile operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side elevational view of the wire bending machine of the preferred embodiment of the present invention as viewed from the front of the machine and with interior portions broken away for compactness and clarity of illustration;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the machine of FIG. I as viewed from the left in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the main drive and the indexing drive components as viewed from the rear of the machine of FIG. I;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged perspective view of an indexing wheel and wire bending heads at the left-hand end of the machine of FIG. I;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the cam and cam mounting associated with the indexing wheel of FIG. 4 with the indexing wheel indicated in phantom lines;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view of the carriage that carries the wire bending heads at the left-hand end of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the operating means components for the wire bending heads that are carried on the carriage of FIG. 6, with the carriage indicated in phantom lines;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing the operating means for wire bending heads carried on a carriage at the righthand end of the machine of FIG. 1, with the carriage indicated in phantom lines;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of an electrical switch and control disc at the end of the main drive shaft of the machine of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D are a series of figures illustrating in sequence the loop forming and loop bending operations being performed by the wire bending heads at the lefthand end of the machine of FIG. 1 as viewed from the back side of the machine facing the wire bending heads;

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of a wire that has been bent by the loop forming bending heads at each end to fonn flat loops prior to the loop bending operation, with the straight center portion of the wire broken away for compactness of illustration; and

FIG. 12 is a view similar to FIG. 11, showing the loops bent to form a completed wire.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in the form of a machine that forms and bends loops at the opposite ends of wires W that are thereby formed for use as bale ties. The machine 20 is of sufficient length to accommodate the wires W in straight horizontal disposition as they are fed into the machine from a supply S that is supported on a plurality of rearwardly extending standards 22. The wires W are manually fed from the supply S through a plurality of feed slots 24 defined between guide plates 26 mounted on the main frame 28 and inclined downwardly from the supply standards 22 to a receiving station 30 at which the wires are received and clamped in a plurality of wire carrying and indexing wheels 32, which index wires W through a loop forming station 34 at which both ends of each wire W, which ends project freely from the wheels 32, are bent to form substantially flat loops A with inwardly extending straight legs C, and with the flat loops A at opposite ends of the wire W being reversely bent, as illustrated in FIG. 11. The wheels 32 then index the looped end wires W to a loop bending station 36 at which the previously formed flat loops A are bent along an axis extending generally across the loops to provide a completed loop configuration B suitable for bale tie use, as seen in FIG. 12. The wheels 32 then index the completed wires W from the loop bending station 36, and in doing so the wires W are unclamped and allowed to fall onto a plurality of laterally extending support plates 38 from which the wires W are manually moved up inclined guide bars 40 and onto lateral support bars 42 on which the completed wires W are accumulated in a stack T for subsequent periodic removal from the machine 10.

The entire operation of the machine is driven by an electric motor 44 located at the center rear bottom of the machine, as seen in FIGS. 1 and 3. This motor 44 drives, through a belt connection 46, a gear reducer 48 that drives, through a chain drive connection 50, an intermediate stub shaft 52 that in turn drives, through another chain drive connection 54, the main drive shaft 56 that extends centrally throughout substantially the full length of the machine 10 to drive components for loop forming and bending at both ends of the wires W. This main drive shaft 56 rotates continuously during operation of the motor 44 to produce continuous cycling of the loop forming and bending operation.

To provide intermittent indexing of the wires W through the various stations while the main drive shaft 56 is continuously cycling the loop forming and bending components, the indexing wheels 32 are mounted on a longitudinally extending horizontal indexing shaft 58 driven from the intermediate stub shaft 52 through a Geneva mechanism that includes a semicircular cam 60 from the opposite portion of which projects an operating finger 62, with the sum 60 and finger 62 driving a Geneva wheel 64 mounted on the indexing shaft 58 in a conventional manner to produce intermittent indexing of the shaft 58 in increments.

The wire carrying and indexing wheels 32 are mounted at spaced locations on the indexing shaft 58 for adequate support of the wires W depending upon the length and rigidity of the wires W. For example, four, six or eight wheels could be utilized. Each wheel 32 is provided with four peripheral wire receiving recesses 66 that are spaced 90 apart and are located at 45, 225, and 315' during the dwell periods produced by the Geneva motion. As seen in FIG. 4, the wire receiving station 30 is located at the 45 position as viewed from the right of the machine, the loop forming station 34 is located at the 3l5 location, and the loop bending station 36 is located at the 225 position. Thus the loop forming station 34 and loop bending station 36 are located in a common vertical plane. The wheels 32 rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed from the right in FIG. 4 to advance the wires W first through the loop forming station 34 and then through the loop bending station 36.

The wires W are retained in each wire receiving means recess 66 by the cooperation of a stationary clamping jaw 68 and a pivoted clamping jaw 70 associated with each recess 66. The stationary clamping jaws 68 are secured to the face of the wheel 32 for abutment against the wires W and may be adjusted to accommodate larger or smaller wires. The pivoted clamping jaws 70 are pivotally mounted on the faces of the wheels 32 on opposite sides of the recesses 66 from the stationary jaws 68 on pivot pins 72 located radially inward from the recesses 66, with the pivoted clamping jaws 70 having wire engaging outer legs 74 and radially inwardly extending control legs 76. The pivoted clamping jaws 70 are yieldable retained in wire clamping position by coil springs 78, each of which has one end attached to a pivoted clamping jaw control leg 76 and the other end attached to the face of the wheel 32 in a direction that causes pivoting of the jaw to clamp the wire, being a clockwise pivoting as viewed in FIG. 4.

The pivoted clamping jaws 70 are manipulated into an open unclamping position by a stationary cam 80 that is mounted on the machine frame 28 adjacent the indexing shaft 58 at the face of each indexing wheel 32. Each stationary cam 80 has a generally radially outward extending surface 82 that is engaged by cam followers 84 mounted on the inner ends of the pivoted clamping jaw control legs 76 so that as the wheels rotate and the cam followers 84 engage the stationary cam 80 they will be forced outwardly by this radial surface 82, thereby pivoting the pivoted clamping jaws 70 to an unclamping position. The stationary cams 80 are located to affect this unclamping immediately after the engaged clamping jaws 70 have left the loop bending station 36, thereby allowing a completed wire W to drop from the wheels 32 onto the support plates 38 therebelow. Following the radial outward surface 82, the stationary cams 80 have an arcuate surface 86 concentric with the wheel 32 to retain the cam followers 84 and pivoted clamping jaws 70 in unclamping position when the pivoted clamping jaws 70 are at the receiving station 30, at which time a wire W may be received in the open recesses 66. Following this arcuate surface 86 the stationary cams 80 have a radially inwardly extending surface 88 that frees the cam followers 84 for spring pivoting of the pivoted clamping jaws 70 into clamping position, with this inwardly extending cam surface 88 located to eflect clamping immediately after the clamping jaws 70 leave the receiving station During each dwell period of the indexing wheels 32, simultaneous loop forming and loop bending operations are performed at the loop forming station 34 and loop bending station 36, respectively, at each end of the machine 20. The loop forming operation is performed by a wire bending head 90 disposed for oscillation about a horizontal axis on a laterally extending shaft 92. Similarly, the loop bending operation is performed by a wire bending head 94 mounted for oscillation about a horizontal axis on a laterally extending shaft 96 with the oscillating axes of the two bending heads 90, 94 being parallel. Both of these bending heads 90, 94 are mounted for common operation and common movement from operative to inoperative positions on a laterally slidable carriage 98. The carriage at the left-hand end of the machine is illustrated in FIG. 6 and is shown in phantom lines in FIG. 7. This carriage 98 is supported by a plurality of vertical and horizontal rollers 100 between a pair of vertically spaced, stationary, horizontal guide tubes 102 and 104 that extend laterally to permit shifting of the carriage 98 between an operative laterally inward position and an inoperative laterally outward or retracted position. The retracted position is shown in solid lines in FIG. 6 and the operative position is shown in dot-dash lines in FIG. 6.

The carriage 98 is manipulated by an operating rod 106 that has one end secured to the carriage 98 at its lower inner edge and its other end secured to a rocker arm 108 that is pivoted on the main frame 28 adjacent the main drive shaft 56. The rocker arm 108 is manipulated by a single lobe cam 110 that is fixed on the main drive shaft 56. One end of the rocker arrn 108 is in following engagement with the cam 110 and is biased in this position by a coil spring 112 that has one end secured to the opposite end of the rocker arm 108 and its other end secured to the main frame 28 below the carriage 98. Thus, as the main drive shaft 56 rotates, the

enlarged portion 114 of the cam 110 rocks the rocker arm 108 laterally outward to shift the carriage 98 to its inoperative position, with the cam 110 being mounted on the main drive shaft 56 in position to accomplish this inoperative carriage positioning during indexing rotation of the indexing shaft 58. Opposite the enlarged cam portion 114, the cam has a reduced size circular portion I16 concentric with the axis of the main drive shaft 56. This circular cam portion 116 positions the carriage 98 in its inner operative position for a period sufficient to accomplish the wire bending operations and is related to the Geneva motion operation so that the carriage 98 is in operative position during the non-rotating dwell period between indexing movements. As the Geneva motion performs one indexing increment for each complete rotation of the main drive shaft 56, the cam will cause a complete reciprocation cycle of the carriage 98 for each indexing step.

The aforementioned carriage rocker arm 108 also controls manipulation of a wire aligning plate 118 that is mounted on the main frame 28 at an inclination aligned with the feed slots 24 and disposed at the desired end positions for the wires W advancing down the feed slots 24. This wire aligning plate is an angle iron form having a horizontal flange 120 disposed under the wire ends and a vertical flange [22 disposed at the normal wire end position. The wire aligning plate "8 is pivoted about the convergence of the horizontal and vertical flanges to cause the vertical flange 122 to rock away from and then back toward the wire ends, thereby imposing an aligning force to any wires that are slightly out of alignment. This rocking is accomplished through an operating rod I24 that has one end connected to the carriage rocker arm 108 and its other end connected to an extension 126 of the horizontal flange 120 of the aligning plate 118 with the end of the operating rod 124 connected to the plate extension 126 being closer to the carriage 98 than the end connected to the carriage rocker arm 108 so that as the carriage rocker arm 108 is moved by the cam 110 away from the main drive shaft 56 the operating rod 124 will pivot the wire aligning plate 118 away from the wire ends and as the rocker arm 108 returns it will cause the operating rod 124 to pull the wire aligning plate 118 back to its wire aligning position, forcing with it any misaligned wires.

Each end of the machine 20 is provided with a carriage such as that described heretofore at the left-hand end of the machine 20, with both carriages operating simultaneously to manipulate corresponding components to perform similar operations. The carriage 98 that has been described heretofore is the one at the lefthand end of the machine 20, which is illustrated in H0. 6. This carriage 98 supports the aforementioned wire bending heads 90, 94, their respective shafts 92, 96, and common operating means 128 for oscillating the heads. This common operating means 128 includes a main oscillating shaft 130 that is mounted in bearings 132 (only one of which is shown in HQ 7) on the carriage 98 in laterally extending horizontal disposition parallel to the bending head shafts 92, 96. This main oscillating shaft 130 has mounted thereon a large drive gear 134 that meshes with a relatively small driven gear I36 mounted on the bending shaft 92 on which the loop forming bending head 90 is mounted so that upon oscillation of the main oscillating shaft I30 the bending head 90 will oscillate to perform the loop forming function.

The main oscillating shaft 130 also has mounted thereon an operating lever arm I38 projecting radially therefrom and carrying a roller 140 at its projecting outer end. This roller 140 engages the top side of a corresponding lever arm I42 that is mounted on the bending head shaft 96 that controls the loop bending operation. The latter lever arm I42 is biased by coil spring 144 that has one end connected to an opposite extension of the lever arm 142 and its other end connected to the carriage 98 therebelow. This coil spring I44 maintains the lever arm 142 in engagement with the operating lever arrn I38 for controlled operation of the loop bending function in response to oscillation of the main oscillating shaft I30.

In the manner described, both the loop forming and loop bending functions are controlled by the common main oscillating shaft 130 to oscillate the bending heads 90, 94 simultaneously and without separate mechanisms being required for each. The main oscillating shaft I30 is driven for oscillation by a kidneyshaped operating cam I46 that is mounted on a cross shaft I48 extending laterally in horizontal disposition and connected by gears 150 to the main drive shaft 56 for synchronous rotation therewith. Thus, the operating cam I46 rotates continuously in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 7. This cam drives a cam following rocker arm I52 that is mounted on the main oscillating shaft 130 and projects radially toward the cam I46 and carries a cam following roller 154 that is engaged by the earn 146 to transmit rocking motion to the rocker arm I52, thereby driving the main oscillating shaft 130. The cam I46 is oriented with respect to the carriage manipulating cam 110 to cause operation of the bending heads 90, 94 when the carriage 98 is in operating position. When the carriage 98 is retracted, the rocker arm I52 carried on the main oscillating shaft I30 will move with the carriage and will thereby be displaced from cam engagement, with the rocker arm I52 being maintained in proper position for subsequent cam engagement by a stationary support plate I56 disposed under the rocker arm I52 and on which the rocker arm I52 slides during carriage manipulation. This support plate I56 terminates short of the plane of the cam I46 for support of the rocker am 152 without interference with the cam. To permit this, the cam following roller I54 is located on the laterally inward side of the rocker arm 152 for projection therefrom beyond the support plate 156.

The rocker arm 152 is biased counterclockwise as viewed in FIG. 7 to assure either cam following engagement or support on the plate 156 for proper control of the bending heads 90, 94 by a main coil spring I58 that has one end attached to the outer end of the operating lever arm I38 and its other end attached to the carriage 98 thereabove.

With the above-described construction, an operating cycle will be performed during each revolution of the operating cam 146, which first engages and raises the rocker arm I52 to cause clockwise rotation of the main oscillating shaft I30 and counterclockwise rotation of the bending heads 90, 94, as viewed in FIG. 7. When the point of the operating cam 146 passes the cam following roller I54, the rocker ann I52 will be free to drop onto the support plate 156 under the bias of the main coil spring I58, thereby returning the bending heads 90. 94 to their initial inoperative positions until the enlarged portion of the operating cam I46 again engages the cam following roller I54 after the carriage 98 has been reciprocated to its inoperative position and back to its operative position.

To perform the loop forming and bending operations, the wire bending heads 90, 94 each have horizontally extending wire engaging pins, as seen in FIG. It). On the loop forming head there is a center pin I60 and an offset pin I62 that is radially spaced vertically from the center pin when the bending head 90 is in its inoperative position, with the offset pin I62 being spaced sufficiently from the center pin 160 to accommodate a wire W therebetween (FIG. 10A). As the bending head 90 is rotated in a clockwise direction (FIG. I0) during the loop forming operation, the offset pin I63 will engage the end of the wire W and force it downwardly around the center pin I60 to reversely bend the wire end portion into a flat loop A. As this is being done, the end of the wire W is engaged by a guide plate I64 that is mounted on the carriage 98 with a guide surface I66 that is inclined from the vertical plane of the wire toward the carriage 98 for guiding the wire end past the unbent straight portion of the wire without interference therewith (FIG. 10B), and the bending then continues until the oscillating stroke is completed, at which time the wire end has been upset against a reaction plate I68 mounted on the carriage 98 in the path of the wire. The reaction plate 168 is disposed above the horizontal plane of the wire W and is disposed generally radially with respect to the center pin 160 so that it is at a slight angle with respect to the wire that is being bent around the center pin 160 thereby upsetting the loop slightly to form the straight leg C at the inner end of the completed loop B (FIG. 10C). At this point, the bending head 90 has completed its operating stroke of about Y4 of a revolution, following which the head will travel in its return stroke, allowing slight recovery of the formed loop (FIG. 10D).

Upon retraction of the bending heads 90, 94, indexing of the wheels 32, and return of the bending heads 90, 94 to their operative position, the loop bending head 94 will be disposed in operative relation to the wire W that was bent to form the flat loop A in the immediately preceding operation at the loop forming head 90, but as the indexing wheel 32 has moved the wire W through an arc of 90, the flat loop A will be in a horizontal disposition at the loop bending head 94 rather than in its originally formed vertical disposition at the loop forming head 90. As seen in FIG. 10A, the straight leg C of the wire W, having been upset against the reaction plate I68, extends slightly downwardly from the horizontal plane of the wire W.

The loop bending head 94 is similar to the loop forming head 90 as it has a center pin I70 and an offset pin I72 spaced vertically above the center pin I70 to accommodate the flat loop A of the wire W therebetween, and the loop bending head 94 also rotates counterclockwise as seen in FIG. 10 during the operating stroke so that the offset pin I62 bends the flat loop A about the axis of the center pin I60, which extends generally across the flat loop A. As this bending is taking place, the upset straight leg C of the wire W is forced upwardly against a reaction plate 174 mounted on the carriage 98 immediately above and aligned with the straight portion of the wire W in the path of the straight leg C (FIGS. 10B and C). In this manner the straight leg C will remain generally aligned with the straight portion of the wire W following the return stroke release of the wire W by the offset pin 172 (FIG. 10D). To provide the proper amount of loop bending, the loop bending head 94 is preferably oscillated through only about A of a revolution. The difference in the amplitude of oscillation of the two bending heads 90, 94 is accommodated by the different gearing and lever arm relationships in the common operating means 128.

As mentioned heretofore, the loops B at opposite ends of the wire W are formed on opposite sides of the wire W and are bent oppositely, as seen in H0. 12. Therefore, the arrangement of components is slightly different, although generally similar, at the right-hand end of the machine as viewed in FIG. 1. For simplicity of description the elements at the right-hand end of the machine that correspond to the elements at the lefthand end of the machine will be designated by the same reference numeral with a prime symbol added. The righthand carriage 98' is mounted on the main frame 28 and is reciprocated in the identical fashion as the carriage 98 at the left-hand end of the machine. Therefore, these details are not repeated in the drawings.

The carriage 98' carries wire bending heads 90', 94' mounted on horizontal, laterally extending, parallel shafts 92', 96 to present the bending heads 90', 94' for operation at loop forming and bending stations corresponding to those at the left-hand end of the machine. The bending head shafts 92', 96' are driven from a main oscillating shaft 130' that carries a large drive gear 134' meshing with a small driven gear 136' on the loop forming head shaft 92. The main oscillating shaft 130' also has mounted thereon an operating lever arm 138' that carries a roller 140' at its extending end, which roller I40 engages the underside of a lever arm 142 mounted on the loop bending head shaft 96. The lever arm 142' is maintained in roller engagement by a coil spring I44 attached to the opposite end of the lever arm 142 and to the carriage 98' thereabove.

The main oscillating shaft 130' at the right-hand end of the machine is oscillated by a kidney-shaped operating cam 146' shaped and oriented with respect to the operation cam 146 at the other end of the machine to produce simultaneous operations at both ends of the machine. This operating cam 146' is mounted on a cross shaft 148' that is connected through gears 150' to the main drive shaft 56 for clockwise rotation of the operating cam 146'. A rocker arm I52 is mounted on the main oscillating shaft [30 and extends toward the operating cam 146 adjacent which the rocker arm 152 carries a cam following roller I54 that is engaged and forced downwardly by the operating cam 146' to rotate the main oscillating shaft 130' clockwise and, thereby, rotate the bending heads 90' 94' counterclockwise. The cam following rocker arm [52' is maintained in position for cam engagement by a main coil spring 158' that extends from the rocker arm 152' upwardly to connection to the main frame 28. This spring 158' biases the rocker arm 152' against the underside of a generally horizontal support plate I56 that retains the rocker am! 152' in position as the carriage reciprocates, which position disposes the bending heads 90', 94 in their inoperative position.

There is also a wire aligning plate H8 located at the right-hand end of the machine similar to that at the lefthand end of the machine, expect that it is stationary, and, therefore, does not include any operating mechanism.

The loop forming and bending operations performed by the bending heads and 94 at the right-hand end of the machine perform the same general functions as those at the left-hand end of the machine, except that the bending heads 90', 94' are positioned with the offset pins 162', 172' offset downwardly from the center pins so that upon clockwise rotation of the bending heads 90', 94' (as viewed when facing the heads) the loops will be formed upwardly and the formed loops will be bent upwardly rather than downwardly as at the left-hand end of the machine. Because this forming and bending is the reverse of that at the other end of the machine, a guide plate and reaction plates similar to those at the opposite end of the machine are located vertically opposite with respect to the wire W, which can be visualized by inverting FIG. 10 while recognizing that the loop forming operation remains above the loop bending operation. Also, because of the opposite loop formation the guide plate will guide the end of the wire away from the carriage out of interference with the straight portion of the wire rather than guiding it toward the carriage as at the left-hand end of the machine.

The operation of the machine is carried on continuously with intermittent indexing to perform functions on a plurality of wires at the same time at different stations. Thus, wires are manually fed from the supply S to the feed slots 24 from which a wire is received by the indexing wheels 32 as previous wires are being formed and bent, with the completed wires being discharged from the wheels 32 onto the support plates 38 therebelow, from which they are collected onto the support bars 42 for subsequent removal from the machine. Should the machine index with no wire advancing into the loop forming station 32, the machine will be stopped to avoid useless operation and to alert the operator to this condition. This stopping is accomplished by locating a limit switch 176 (FIG. 10A) on each carriage 98, 98 adjacent the loop forming head 90, 90' with the switch 176 extending for engagement with a wire W so that if a wire is in place the switches [76 will be closed. These switches 176 are connected in parallel to a normally closed switch 178 that rides on a circular disc on the main drive shaft 56. This disc has a notch 182 into which the normally closed switch 178 drops to open the switch once during every revolution of the main drive shaft 56. This notch [82 is located so that it will allow opening of the associated switch 178 when a wire should have reached the limit switches 176. Thus, if a wire is properly positioned the limit switches 176 will bypass the normally closed switch 178 and allow operation of the machine to continue.

As it is usually desirable to maintain a record of the production of the machine, a counter [84 may be included, with the counter being driven through a belt or chain connection 186 by the main drive shaft 56. In this manner the count of the revolutions of the main drive shaft 56 will indicate the number of wires that have been processed.

From the foregoing description, it is apparent that the machine 20 of the present invention is capable of high-speed operation at relatively high production rates while providing reliably operable mechanisms that utilize common components to a significant extent with corresponding construction and operation savings.

it should also be apparent that the principles of this invention are applicable to bending of wires of various types and for various purposes other than bale ties only, and that variations can be made within the scope of the present invention without limitation to the particular details described hereinabove in relation to the preferred embodiment. The present invention is not intended to be limited by the present disclosure or otherwise except as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

I. A machine for bending the ends of wires to form articles such as bale ties or the like comprising means for mounting a plurality of elongate wires with the longitudinal axes thereof parallel and spaced apart and for rotating the wires about an axis parallel to and spaced from the wire axes thereby indexing said wires sequentially through a plurality of spaced apart stations with the end portions of said wires projecting freely from said mounting and rotating means, loop forming means operable at one of said stations to engage a projecting wire end portion and bend said end portion reversely into the general configuration of a loop, and loop bending means operable at a station subsequent to said one station to engage the loop configuration of a wire end portion and bend said loop configuration along an axis extending generally across said loop configuration.

2. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 1 and characterized further in that said loop forming means and said loop bending means are operable simultaneously to bend the end portion of one wire into a loop configuration and at the same time bend a previously formed loop configuration of another wire.

3. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 2 and characterized further by carriage means on which both said loop forming means and loop bending means are operably mounted for movement there with between operative and inoperative positions.

4. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 3 and characterized further in that said carriage means is reciprocable in relation to said wire carrying and indexing means to move both said loop fonning means and said loop bending means into operative position following each wire indexing and into operative position prior to subsequent wire indexing.

5. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 1 and characterized further in that each said loop forming means and said loop bending means includes an oscillatable wire bending head engageable with the wire end portions.

6. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 5 and characterized further in that said bending heads are oscillatable about generally parallel axes.

7. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 6 and characterized further by common operating means for oscillating both bending heads simultaneously.

8. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 6 and characterized further by carriage means on which both said wire bending heads are operably mounted for movement therewith between operative and inoperative positions.

9. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 1 and characterized further in that said wire mounting and rotating means comprises a rotatable shaft, a plurality of aligned wire carrying and indexing wheels mounted in spaced relation on said shaft for carrying a plurality of wires in parallel relation through an arcuate path, and means for rotatably indexing said shaft for advancing said wires through said stations.

10. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 9 and characterized further in that said indexing wheels receive wires at a receiving station in advance of said one loop forming station, and clamping means are carried on said indexing wheels for clamping wires in place on said wheels as said wires are advancing from said receiving station to and through said one loop forming station and said subsequent loop bending station and for unclamping thereafter to allow bent wires to be discharged and to allow unbent wires to be received at said receiving station.

11. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 9 and characterized further in that said means for rotatably indexing said shaft advances said wires through an arc of approximately during each indexing.

12. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim H and characterized further in that each said loop forming means and said loop bending means includes an oscillatable wire bending head engageable with the wire end portion at their respective stations, said bending heads being oscillatable about generally parallel axes, said approximately 90 indexing of said wires resulting in reorienting said wires for bending of said loop configurations at said loop bending station at approximately 90 to the bending of said wires into loop configurations at said loop forming station.

13. A machine for bending the ends of wires comprising means for mounting a plurality of elongate wires with the longitudinal axes thereof parallel and spaced apart and for rotating the wires about an axis parallel to and spaced from the wire axes thereby indexing said wires sequentially through a plurality of spaced apart stations with the end portions of said wires projecting freely from said mounting and rotating means, a first wire bending means operable at one of said stations to engage and bend a projecting wire end portion, and second wire bending means operable at a station subsequent to said one station to engage and bend a wire end portion that had previously been bent by said first wire bending means, said first and second wire bending means operating substantially simultaneously to bend the end portion of one wire by said first wire bending means at the same time that a previously bent end por tion of another wire is being bent by said second wire bending means.

14. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 13 and characterized further by carriage means on which both said first and second wire bending means are operably mounted for movement therewith between operative and inoperative positions.

15. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 14 and characterized further in that said carriage means is reciprocable in relation to said wire mounting and rotating means to move said first and second wire bending means into operative position following each wire indexing and into inoperative position prior to subsequent wire indexing.

16. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 13 and characterized further in that each said first and second wire bending means includes an oscillatable wire bending head engageable with the wire end portions.

17. A machine for bending the ends of wires accord ing to claim 16 and characterized further in that said bending heads are oscillatable about generally parallel axes.

18. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 13 and characterized further in that said wire mounting and rotating means reorients said wires about their axes as said wires are being indexed from said one wire bending station to the other wire bending station.

19. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 18 and characterized further in that each of said first and second wire bending means includes an oscillatable wire bending head engageable with wire end portions at their respective stations, said bending heads being oscillatable about generally parallel axes, with said reorienting of said wires by said wire mounting and rotating means presenting said wires for bending at different relative angles by said generally parallel bending heads.

20. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 18 and characterized further in that said wire mounting and rotating means comprises a rotatable shaft, a plurality of aligned wire carrying and indexing wheels mounted in spaced relation on said shaft for carrying a plurality of wires in parallel relation through an arcuate path, and means for rotatably indexing said shaft for advancing said wires through said stations.

21. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 20 and characterized further in that said indexing wheels receive wires at a receiving station in advance of the first wire bending station, and clamping means are carried on said indexing wheels for clamping wires in place on said wheels as said wires are advancing from said receiving station to and through said first and second wire bending stations and for unclamping thereafter to allow bent wires to be discharged and to allow unbent wires to be received at said receiving station.

22. A machine for bending the end of a wire comprising means for mounting and rotating an elongate wire sequentially through a plurality of spaced apart stations with an end portion of the wire projecting freely from said mounting and rotating means, said mounting and 10 heads being oscillatable about parallel spaced axes.

23. A machine for bending the end of a wire according to claim 22 and characterized further in that said wire mounting and rotating means reorients said wire about its axis as said wire is being indexed from said one wire bending station to the other wire bending station.

24. A machine for bending the end of a wire according to claim 23 and characterized further in that said wire mounting and rotating means comprises a rotatable shaft, a plurality of aligned wire carrying and indexing wheels mounted in spaced relation on said shaft for carrying a wire through an arcuate path, and means for rotatably indexing said shaft for advancing said wire through said stations.

25. A machine for bending the end of a wire accord ing to claim 24 and characterized further in that said means for rotatably indexing said shaft advances said wire through an arc of approximately 90 as the wire is indexed from said one wire bending station to the other wire bending station.

26. A machine for bending the end of a wire according to claim 24 and characterized further in that said indexing wheels receive a wire at a receiving station in advance of the first wire bending station, and clamping means are carried on said indexing wheels for clampimg the wire in place on said wheels as said wire is advancing from said receiving station to and through said first and second wire bending stations and for unclamp- 4Q ing thereafter to allow the bent wire to be discharged and to allow an unbent wire to be received at said receiving station.

I i II I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,841,361 Dated October 15 1974 Inventor-(5) John P. Kieronski It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 3, line "righthand" should be -right-hand- Column 4, line 25, "sum" should be -cam- Column 4, line 5 delete "means" Column 6, line 7, "100" should be --l10-- Column 8, line 15, "163" should be --162- Column 9, line Z "operation" should be -operating-- Column 9, line 65c, "expect" should be -except Column 11, line 55, delete "further" Column 11, lineL Z, "opera" should be -inopera Column 11, lines 56 60, delete Claim 8 and insert therefor 7. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to Claim 6 and characterized further in that said bending heads are oppositely oscillatable.

Column 14, me as, "pimg" should be -ping Signed and sealed this 13th day of May 1975.

(SEAL) Attest:

C. MARSHALL DANN RUTH C. MASON Commissioner of Patents Attesting Officer and Trademarks IRM PO-105O (IO-69, USCOMM-DC 603164 69 us. Ion-nun unmur. own: I"! o-su-nl 

1. A machine for bending the ends of wires to form articles such as bale ties or the like comprising means for mounting a plurality of elongate wires with the longitudinal axes thereof parallel and spaced apart and for rotating the wires about an axis parallel to and spaced from the wire axes thereby indexing said wires sequentially through a plurality of spaced apart stations with the end portions of said wires projecting freely from said mounting and rotating means, loop forming means operable at one of said stations to engage a projecting wire end portion and bend said end portion reversely into the general configuration of a loop, and loop bending means operable at a station subsequent to said one station to engage the loop configuration of a wire end portion and bend said loop configuration along an axis extending generally across said loop configuration.
 2. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 1 and characterized further in that said loop forming means and said loop bending means are operable simultaneously to bend the end portion of one wire into a loop configuration and at the same time bend a previously formed loop configuration of another wire.
 3. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 2 and characterized further by carriage means on which both said loop forming means and loop bending means are operably mounted for movement therewith between operative and inoperative positions.
 4. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 3 and characterized further in that said carriage means is reciprocable in relation to said wire carrying and indexing means to move both said loop forming means and said loop bending means into operative position following each wire indexing and into operative position prior to subsequent wire indexing.
 5. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 1 and characterized further in that each said loop forming means and said loop bending means includes an oscillatable wire bending head engageable with the wire end portions.
 6. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 5 and characterized further in that said bending heads are oscillatable about generally parallel axes.
 7. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 6 and characterized further by common operating means for oscillating both bending heads simultaneously.
 8. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 6 and characterized further by carriage means on which both said wire bending heads are operably mounted for movement therewith between operative and inoperative positions.
 9. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 1 and characterized further in that said wire mounting and rotating means comprises a rotatable shaft, a plurality of aligned wire carrying and indexing wheels mounted in spaced relation on said shaft for carrying a plurality of wires in parallel relation through an arcuate path, and means for rotatably indexing said shaft for advancing said wires through said stations.
 10. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 9 and characterized further in that said indexing wheels receive wires at a receiving station in advance of said one loop forming station, and clamping means are carried on said indexing wheels for clamping wires in place on said wheels as said wires are advancing from said receiving station to and through said one loop forming station and said subsequent loop bending station and for unclamping thereafter to allow bent wires to be discharged and to allow unbent wires to be received at said receiving station.
 11. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 9 and characterized further in that said means for rotatably indexing said shaft advances said wires through an arc of approximately 90* during each indexing.
 12. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 11 and characterized further in that each said loop forming means and said loop bending means includes an oscillatable wire bending head engageable with the wire end portion at their respective stations, said bending heads being oscillatable about generally parallel axes, said approximately 90* indexing of said wires resulting in reorienting said wires for bending of said loop configurations at said loop bending station at approximately 90* to the bending of said wires into loop configurations at said loop forming station.
 13. A machine for bending the ends of wires comprising means for mounting a plurality of elongate wires with the longitudinal axes thereof parallel and spaced apart and for rotating the wires about an axis parallel to and spaced from the wire axes thereby indexing said wires sequentially through a plurality of spaced apart stations with the end portions of said wires projecting freely from said mounting and rotating means, a first wire bending means operable at one of said stations to engage and bend a projecting wire end portion, and second wire bending means operable at a station subsequent to said one station to engage and bend a wire end portion that had previously been bent by said first wire bending means, said first and second wire bending means operating substantially simultaneously to bend the end portion of one wire by said first wire bending means at the same time that a previously bent end portion of another wire is being bent by said second wire bending means.
 14. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 13 and characterized further by carriage means on which both said first and second wire bending means are operably mounted for movement therewith between operative and inoperative positions.
 15. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 14 and characterized further in that said carriage means is reciprocable in relation to said wire mounting and rotating means to move said first and second wire bending means into operative position following each wire indexing and into inoperative position prior to subsequent wire indexing.
 16. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 13 and characterized further in that each said first and second wire bending means includes an oscillatable wire bending head engageable with the wire end portions.
 17. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 16 and characterized further in that said bending heads are oscillatable about generally parallel axes.
 18. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 13 and characterized further in that said wire mounting and rotating means reorients said wires about their axes as said wires are being indexed from said one wire bending station to the other wire bending station.
 19. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 18 and characterized furTher in that each of said first and second wire bending means includes an oscillatable wire bending head engageable with wire end portions at their respective stations, said bending heads being oscillatable about generally parallel axes, with said reorienting of said wires by said wire mounting and rotating means presenting said wires for bending at different relative angles by said generally parallel bending heads.
 20. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 18 and characterized further in that said wire mounting and rotating means comprises a rotatable shaft, a plurality of aligned wire carrying and indexing wheels mounted in spaced relation on said shaft for carrying a plurality of wires in parallel relation through an arcuate path, and means for rotatably indexing said shaft for advancing said wires through said stations.
 21. A machine for bending the ends of wires according to claim 20 and characterized further in that said indexing wheels receive wires at a receiving station in advance of the first wire bending station, and clamping means are carried on said indexing wheels for clamping wires in place on said wheels as said wires are advancing from said receiving station to and through said first and second wire bending stations and for unclamping thereafter to allow bent wires to be discharged and to allow unbent wires to be received at said receiving station.
 22. A machine for bending the end of a wire comprising means for mounting and rotating an elongate wire sequentially through a plurality of spaced apart stations with an end portion of the wire projecting freely from said mounting and rotating means, said mounting and rotating means moving the wire about an axis parallel to and spaced from the longitudinal axis thereof, a first wire bending head operable at one of said stations to engage said projecting wire end portion and to oscillate to bend said end portion, and a second wire bending head operable at a station subsequent to said one station to engage the wire end portion previously bent by said first wire bending means and to oscillate to bend said end portion, said first and second wire bending heads being oscillatable about parallel spaced axes.
 23. A machine for bending the end of a wire according to claim 22 and characterized further in that said wire mounting and rotating means reorients said wire about its axis as said wire is being indexed from said one wire bending station to the other wire bending station.
 24. A machine for bending the end of a wire according to claim 23 and characterized further in that said wire mounting and rotating means comprises a rotatable shaft, a plurality of aligned wire carrying and indexing wheels mounted in spaced relation on said shaft for carrying a wire through an arcuate path, and means for rotatably indexing said shaft for advancing said wire through said stations.
 25. A machine for bending the end of a wire according to claim 24 and characterized further in that said means for rotatably indexing said shaft advances said wire through an arc of approximately 90* as the wire is indexed from said one wire bending station to the other wire bending station.
 26. A machine for bending the end of a wire according to claim 24 and characterized further in that said indexing wheels receive a wire at a receiving station in advance of the first wire bending station, and clamping means are carried on said indexing wheels for clampimg the wire in place on said wheels as said wire is advancing from said receiving station to and through said first and second wire bending stations and for unclamping thereafter to allow the bent wire to be discharged and to allow an unbent wire to be received at said receiving station. 